Explanation:
While meteors
do show colors, the colors aren't always seen
with the unaided eye.
Still, high speed
color
film recorded this rainbow-like trail
as a meteor streaked through
the early morning sky on
August 13 above Sedona, Arizona, USA.
Part of the annual Perseid meteor shower,
this bit of
dust from
the tail of Comet Swift-Tuttle
entered Earth's atmosphere at
over 200,000 kilometers per hour.
The trail it left glowed briefly as friction with the
atmosphere vaporized the dust
grain and ionized atoms along its path.
The initial green color is thought to be the glow from
oxygen in the atmosphere at altitudes above 100 kilometers or so,
while sodium atoms and other constituents of the cometary dust grain
itself contribute to the orange hues.